Hospital To Be Staffed With Ob/gyn 24 Hours A Day

June 05, 1991|By Anne Haddad | Anne Haddad,Staff writer

WESTMINSTER — Pregnant women who rush to the emergency room at Carroll County General Hospital could see a specialist immediately when the hospital begins a program July 1 to have an obstetrician/gynecologist in house 24hours a day.

Until a woman's regular physician arrives, she couldbe seen by the house obstetrician in addition to emergency room doctors.

Announcement of the new program came at last night's quarterly meeting of the hospital's parent corporation, Carroll County Health Services. CCGH has contracted with a group of five OB/GYNs based in Baltimore to provide the service, said John Sernulka, CCGH's chief executive officer and executive vice president.

"The program will increase the level of quality and the comfort level for women who come to the hospital," Sernulka said.

In addition to the 600 to 700 births per year, he said, the hospital also has many other women arrive in false labor or with abdominal pains. He said the in-house OB/GYN can evaluate the women and decide whether their regular doctors should be called. A patient without an OB/GYN could be admitted and cared for by the house doctor.

Obstetric staffing would be similar to the hospital's in-house pediatrician program, in which a pediatric specialist is always in the hospital to treat children in emergencies. Costs for this treatment would be paid by the patient or her insurance company.

Also at the meeting, Vice President for Finance Kevin Kelbly presented the parent corporation's fiscal 1992 budget, which goes intoeffect July 1. The projected 1992 break-even budget of $37.6 millionin revenue and expenses compares to projected revenue of $32.7 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

The increase represents new and expanded services, such as the in-house obstetrician, a short-term psychiatric ward, a minor surgery suite and more cardiac services.

Kelbly said increased hospital admissions and services lead him to expect income to continue to outstrip expenses for 1991. Becausethe hospital is non-profit, any money left after expenses at the endof a budget year is plowed back into services.

For the first 10 months, the parent corporation is showing $1.7 million more in revenuethan expenses. Of that amount, $969,000 is due to one-time gifts to a fund-raising campaign for the hospital's expansion. The hospital's operating budget accounts for another $515,000 of the increase.

Inother business, the Carroll County General Hospital Foundation, the fund-raising arm of CCGH, has added five members to its board of directors, and announced plans to start an annual golf tournament in October.

The expansion of the board to 12 members reflects the more-active role members will be taking in raising money for the hospital, said Suzanne Lee, hired last fall as foundation director.

"With thenew strategic plan the hospital has put forth, it gives a much more active role to the foundation," Lee said.

The golf tournament is set for Oct. 4. Committees are forming to plan the event, which will be at Wakefield Valley Golf Club and include an after-tournament dinner. Money will be raised through registration fees and sponsorships.

The foundation, with help from volunteers, completed a capital campaign that raised $3.8 million in pledges toward hospital expansion. Projects that will benefit include a cardiac catheterization and angiography suite, the psychiatric ward and new laser equipment in the operating room.

New members are Dr. Niel J. Borrelli, a Westminster radiologist; Linda Galvin of Keymar, former director of development for the Maryland Shock Trauma Unit at University Hospital in Baltimore;Jack Tevis of S. H. Tevis & Son oil company; Patrick Kotten, generalmanager of 3M Corp. in Westminster; and Maurice Good of Westminster,former assistant vice president of line operations for CSX Transportation.